


Before the Bells

by Transistance



Series: Incompatible [3]
Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/M, First Kiss, New Year's Eve, Snogging, Walks In The Park
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-04
Updated: 2015-08-04
Packaged: 2018-04-13 00:00:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4499883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Transistance/pseuds/Transistance
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The park is a nice place, even at dusk, even with her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Before the Bells

**Author's Note:**

> Why are you ninnies not at work there'll be overtime for this for sure

It was on a park bench in the dying light of the year's last day that she first kissed him. New Year's eve; lukewarm this time round, but with clear skies, the sun already having completed its exhaustive journey to a point scarcely above the horizon and tumbled serenely back below. He had suggested they go for a walk, in the absence of anything better to do, and so they had.

Small talk ensured. Grell flitted about and twirled as though in her element, and William tried to keep up without breaking from his measured walking pace. After a while she hesitantly took his hand and, when he made no motion of protest, entwined her arm as tightly as possible in his and walked almost leaning on him. He didn't know if he minded or not.

They came across a small bench under the eaves of two bare branched trees just as the day was beginning to grey, and decided to pause. They had sat there for a few moments just observing the birds, before Grell carefully removed her hand from his and glanced away, eyes sliding innocently away to pick out the first visible stars scattered loosely across the heavens above them.

“Will, can I kiss you?”

He did have to think about it, for a moment. Considered who she was and what their relative positions were and whether he had any real feelings on the matter.

“If you want to.”

She kissed his cheek first, lightly, and then pressed her lips against his when he turned the slight angle to look at her. It was much gentler than he had expected, and her mouth was warm and softer than it had any right to be. She held herself there for a few moments before pulling away with a sigh and murmuring, “Will, you're not doing anything. You need to-”

She stopped as he reached over to unhook her glasses, placing them on the bench behind him. He had no idea how to do this – any of this – but was fully aware that glasses would go out of their way to mess things up wherever possible. He removed his own and placed them unceremoniously beside hers. He couldn't really see her now, aside from a red and white blur, but that was fine.

_Hands, do something with your hands, idiot_. He placed one on her cheek, which she leaned into, and the other... In her hair? That would do. Then leaned forward to kiss her again.

She gave a very quiet whimper when his mouth met hers, then seized his shoulders and swung herself bodily onto his lap – _heavy, heavy, warm, you can deal with this –_ without breaking the contact, pressing her body against his. Being trapped between a bench and an overly passionate co-worker should not be enjoyable, he felt, but there it was.

Her hair felt amazing. The closeness of their bodies felt amazing. The rough kneading of her hands against his own scalp felt amazing. He had no idea what his mouth was meant to be doing – _make vague kissing motions and move a bit, it'll be fine_ _oh god she's grabbed my lip what do I do_ – but she didn't seem to have picked up on that yet. Her body rocked slightly with the movement of their mouths and he felt alive.

_You are kissing Grell Sutcliff_ , a detached part of his mind observed. _Your most obnoxious colleague has you pinned against a park bench and is snogging the face off you and you are doing nothing to dissuade this._

_Yes_ , he reasoned with it vaguely. _But if she's snogging me then she can't be killing people or pissing anyone off, so it's a useful thing to do for everyone's sake._

Her mouth was open against his and, after a moment of apparent hesitation, he felt her tongue slide over his lower lip, a sensation more alien and inexplicable than any he'd ever had. His throat reacted before his brain and to his horror he let out a short noise that was almost an exact replica of Grell's earlier expulsion but in a deeper tone, and she took it as a cue to increase the intensity of her movements.

_Tongues are a thing, use your tongue_. This was beginning to feel more like an out-of-body experience than anything else, but hell, why not. He moved his tongue up and forwards, meeting Grell's rather sooner than expected and pressed them together clumsily, provoking an almost instantaneous reaction - her mouth widened and she gave a shuddering moan, flooding his mouth with heat and tangible pleasure. Their mouths explored each other for another few minutes before William felt her fingertips snaking their way down his neck, attempting to loosen his shirt.

_Stop_.

He broke away from her as gently as possible, removing his hand from her cheek to place it over hers, holding it still. _Don't go,_ something whispered, although whether it was her voice or his own mind he couldn't discern.

“Not now,” he said. _Not here, not that, not on a cold park bench in the middle of winter and on the dying day of a bad year_.

Her face was actually close enough to be in focus. That was a change. He wasn't sure exactly when the last time was that he'd been able to read someone's expression without his glasses, but it didn't matter. The night had fallen around them like a blanket and the very low illumination served only to hood her features, catching the whites of her eyes and painting her as a ghost of her usual vivid self. She seemed to be staring at him, silent for once. Calculating.

He realised that he had misread this when she slid off his lap to stand, daintily, and murmured a slightly hoarse, “I'm sorry. Sorry, Will, I didn't...”

She trailed off and then, to his surprise, offered her hands out to him, which shook slightly when he took them and pulled him up from the bench into a hug. He fought off the immediate reflex to push her away that still existed within him, and tried to reciprocate the gesture.

“I've rather ruined this, haven't I?” she asked quietly, leaning away from him to grab his glasses from the bench and then closer again to carefully slide them onto his face, bringing the night into a sharp focus. “I didn't mean to– I wasn't thinking.”

What on earth could be said to that? Any number of sharp and tired retorts flooded his mind in answer, but he brushed them away and said, “I'll walk you home.”

She leaned away again, holding onto his arms to allow her to balance precariously on one heel, which remained miraculously unbroken. Her head was tilted as though she were considering the offer carefully, eyes squinting in an attempt to focus on him properly without her own glasses. It was a faintly ridiculous look, and he wondered if there was a way of returning her glasses without causing the both of them to overbalance and end up on the ground.

“It can't be much later than five o'clock,” she muttered, as though his suggestion was the strangest thing that the evening had thrown up. “Five o'clock on New Year's eve... Ah, it's too early even to say 'the night is young' – there are still parties to attend, affairs to be had, excess time to be spent freely. Will I see you at the office do?”

She used this sudden change conversation as an opportunity to release his arms and swoop effortlessly to reclaim her eyewear, taking a moment to secure the spectacles before turning to meet his eyes again. She beamed at him in her usual spectacularly predatory way, teeth eerily white against the darkness.

“No, you won't. Upper Management has decided to call a meeting to discuss this past year and the next, which is likely to run on much longer than anyone wants and end up with someone being demoted.”

Grell pulled a face that came very close to summing up his own feelings on the matter, and flipped her hair more dramatically than could possibly be necessary. “Well!” she exclaimed shortly. “I'm sorry to hear that.”

“I'm sure you are.”

The look she gave him was probably supposed to be dirty, but it just came across as disappointed. Perhaps she thought he was lying – this would not be the first year that he had avoided their office's obligatory mess of alcohol and noise, although he would much prefer to put up with that than the upcoming meeting.

He watched her for a moment before adding, “Sorry.”

“I'm sure you are.”

Right. He had walked into that and half expected her to follow it up with a barrage of barbed words and melodramatic reprovals, but instead she just sighed and raised her eyebrows at him.

“Walk me home?”

As though the suggestion had been hers from the start - William wondered if she knew how pitiable she sounded; how pathetically dependant on the things around her. Perhaps she was just acting. It was always hard to tell.

“Of course.”

It was possible that she was smiling - his eyes were on the sky now, avoiding her gaze - when she took his hand again, far too possessively. She hummed a tune that didn't make sense under her breath and walked as though balancing on a tightrope. He wondered if it meant she was happy or just batshit insane.

“Happy New Year, Will, if I don't see you before the bells.”

“...Happy New Year, Grell.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> I actually? Haven't a clue how kissing works?
> 
> And _yes_ I wrote this half a year ago. Fight me.


End file.
